Japan: Connecting for Web-Savvy Schools

The goal of the Japanese government is simple. It aims to connect every school in the country to the Internet over the next few years in order to close the Net gap between Japan and major Western industrialized countries. An advisory panel to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi recommended earlier this year that all schools be connected to the Internet by 2005.

In the most recent Japanese budget, the Post and Telecommunications Ministry earmarked 2 billion yen ($18.9 million) for the plan to connect public schools to the Internet.

Numerous authorities on the Internet have said that Japan lags behind the United States and Europe by at least two years in Internet development and use.

According to a survey by Andersen Consulting of the United States, Japanese executives ranked last in terms of Internet skills possessed by top managers in major industrialized countries. In their survey, based on responses from 1,700 executives around the world, 15 percent of Japanese executives said they were Internet proficient, while Canada topped the survey with a 65 percent proficiency ratio and the U.S. was second with 64 percent.

Private-sector partner

Japan's leading telecommunications group, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), which was recently broken up into two regional carriers and one long- distance carrier that also has a data transmission business, has played a major role in bringing the Internet to schools.

The NTT group is working with the government on the school Internet connection plan, and the two regional carriers are offering discounts to schools for ISDN connections. The companies are cutting the rate for 100 hours of ISDN connection from 20,000 yen to 8,500 yen, and a 40 percent discount will apply for future use.

The group has already begun a project to connect 1,000 elementary, middle and high schools around the country to the Internet. NTT provided 300 million yen to help meet the cost of purchasing Internet connection software and cover connection charges.

Critics say that NTT companies need to introduce a reasonable rate for Internet connection because connection rates in Japan are some of the highest in the world.

Jon Herskovitz